A lifetime before the war
by emmah93
Summary: This story is set before Eric has transferred to Dauntless. It will be based around the two main characters of Eric and an Original character of Grace (Who will eventually change her name). It is set before he becomes an entirely horrible person and we will see why his life changed to become the man we see in the first novel 'Divergent'. Eric will transfer to Dauntless by the end.
1. Chapter 1

At 13 years old Grace had never truly been outside in nature, she craved the outdoors. To run and jump and play and have fun with her peers. However Grace lived in Erudite, which meant she spent most of her days locked inside with her eyes forcibly glued to a book. The pursuit of knowledge is drilled into members of Erudite from a young age, instead of at the age of 5 learning to ride a bicycle they may be learning about photosynthesis or the elements on the periodic table. Grace was always curious growing up however her curiosity ventured more into what is out there in the world, what the other factions were like, what it would be like to leave and escape, anything and everything outside those stone walls.

'I want out' I thought to myself as I paced around the 3rd floor library. We have a library on 6 of the 12 floors here in Erudite, apparently you can never have enough books. I had been assigned 5 hours of study in the library this morning and as I never seem to get any work done I have been assigned my own personal prison guard as I like to call it to oversee that I actually get some work done while I am here. I was told last week that my grades were so low that I needed to be observed to see if it was my lack of intelligence or my lack of desire to pursue knowledge, or any other stupid reason that I am failing my tests. It isn't even that I am failing! It is ridiculous, to be accepted as a knowledgeable person here you need to be achieving 90% plus on every test you take, most students don't even get under a 98%. However I have been achieving around 80% and for my teachers that is simply not acceptable.

Finally I have seen my moment to escape, my irritating parasite of a supervisor Gaines has gone off to use the toilet. I grab my bag and run to the fire exit at the back of the library and climb to the ground floor. As I get outside the front doors I am surrounded by more and more concrete, there isn't a blade of grass to be seen. Come to think of it, the only grass I have ever seen is pictures and diagrams in the botany books I have had to study in the past. I had no idea where to go so I just turned to my right and started running. The cool wind was whooshing through my hair as I ran, sweat began to bead on my forehead, running wasn't something I had done a lot, and exerting energy outside was not something seen as a good use of time when one could be improving on their knowledge.

After a while that I was sure I wasn't being tracked by any cameras or being followed I slowed my pace to an even walk. After an hour of walking I saw a green field in the distance. 'GRASS' I yelled aloud and started running towards it. Once I reached the green blades covering the earth I fell to the ground and rolled around while giggling, weaving my fingers through the soft blades. I stopped moving and lay still, smelling and taking in the feel and texture of the grass on my body. Coming from above I hear a loud roar of laughter I leap up startled, quickly the fear moved throughout my body as I looked around to see the source of the noise. Above me in the trees a few meters away I see a pair of feet dangling from a high branch, I walk over and see a boy whose face I swear I have seen somewhere before. 'What's so funny?' I proclaim as I look up at the dark haired boy. 'You were actually rolling around in the grass that was hilarious four eyes' the boy called down. Shocked I remembered I was still wearing my clear plastic lensed glasses, something I didn't medically need for assistance, just something that the Erudite wore to improve their appearance to look like they are more intelligent. Feeling embarrassed I pulled them off and shoved them in my pocket, the boy jumped down from the high branches and landed right in front of me. He was also wearing blue clothing which meant he was also a member of Erudite that must be why his face looks slightly familiar I thought to myself. 'My name is Egbert... I mean, Eric' the boy said pointing his hand in my direction to shake. 'Eric isn't a very Erudite name' I told him, 'I know, I don't really like living in Erudite so I just decided I should change it' he explained. 'Oh I'm Grace' I said, 'I don't really belong either, that's why I had to escape for a while, I needed a break'. 'Well it's the perfect place to come' said Eric. I couldn't help staring at the boy, he wasn't as skinny as the other boys in Erudite, he must come out here often to be able to run around and get fit. Eric caught me staring at him and smirked. His eyes bearing into me as though he wanted me to know that he knew he caught me staring.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up as the sun was slowly beginning to set, for the second time that day I was startled by the presence of a boy I had only just met, Egb… Eric. His hunched over body was sitting directly opposite me as I began to sit up he stirred. 'Jesus! Finally! It's only been what, 2 hours that I've been sitting here waiting for you to come back to the land of the living' he blurted out to me. 'Wah, why didn't you just wake me up then? I don't even remember closing my eyes, your very eccentric stories were so riveting I can't believe I didn't get to finish hearing them' I said sarcastically. Eric rolled his large grey eyes at me, although the colour was harsh his eyes did still have a warm touch to them. 'I stayed because I decided to be the good guy and not leave you fast asleep in the middle of nowhere alone, okay'.

We began our long walk back to Erudite together in the dark, I knew I would be dead, my parents would dob me in if I hadn't already been reported that I was missing by Gaines. 'Eric, I can't go back, I just can't, they'll punish me for this I know it. I'm already down for 5 hours supervised study a day, if I'm caught now, they'll put me in isolation, stuck alone with nothing but books!' 'Ugh, Grace you'll be fine trust me, I leave all the time. If you are caught, you just need to say you went outside because you had a surge of curiosity and you had to document everything you came to see outside the Building and when doing so you got so entrenched in your documentation that you lost track of time. That excuse works a charm' he said. I looked at him astonished, 'Wow, you really do escape a lot don't you'. 'It's all a part of the charm sweetheart, all a part of the charm'.

As we arrived back at Erudite, Eric showed me through a back door and through the building to the stairwell. That's when we were caught. It was late so a lot of people were asleep but that doesn't mean that there are not a bunch of Brainiacs up till 4am studying, because you know apparently there is just not enough hours in the day to study. We were seen, by none other than Gaines, he was waiting for me. I knew it. 'GRACE, I knew I'd find you, you miss are in deep trouble, you're going straight to the top, no small punishments you are going to see the head, I'm taking you to Janine. I turned to Eric next to me, his face was emotionless, hard. He'd been through this before, I could see it in her eyes. He started following me as I followed Gaines down a long corridor, 'Mr. Coulter you are not needed for this meeting, please leave' Gaines instructed. Without looking at me Eric reached forward and took my hand in his and squeezed tightly once, let go and quickly walked away. Goosebumps crept up my arm, it felt somehow reassuring. The warmth of his hand on mine, it was something new. Something, nice.


	3. Chapter 3

The office was quite large and very plain. There was one large painting of a blue eye on the wall behind the desk, the symbol for Erudite. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw it move, scanning the room at the two people who just intruded. But I must be imagining it, paintings can't move… Can they? Janine was at the back of her office placing a book back on one of the far shelves, she was wearing a cobalt blue dress with ruffled shoulders, clearly not something to be worn at 4am but Janine was always the professional. 'Does this woman ever sleep?' I thought to myself as I stood awaiting her lecture. 'Ah Miss Grace Gilbert, thank you so much for giving me your company tonight, how are you?' Janine said softly. 'I'm fine thank you' I said questioningly, 'This is strange, too, easy, why am I not in trouble?' I thought to myself. Janine walked calmly over to her desk, sat down and then gestured for me to sit. 'I have some concerns Grace, you are below average in your studies, you refuse to sit and concentrate on one task, are failing to cooperate and learn and now I find out that you are breaking an even bigger rule and are sneaking out of Erudite at night with a boy! What am I to think of all of this Grace?' 'Well Miss, I, I don't know what to say. I just don't enjoy sitting at a desk all day and read. I mean I do love to learn, I just need to get outside and move around from time to time, it's the first time I've ever been outside and I was just curious. I'm sorry Janine it was my mistake, my…' I thought about what Eric said to me and I knew I had to lie. 'My mind, I was so curious, I saw what was outside and I knew that I need to see more so I could document everything I saw outside when I got back. Maybe even ask my teachers if we could go out on a scientific excursion to learn more about plants in real life and not just what we read about in our text books. I am truly sorry Janine, I got too carried away and lost track of time'. Janine had been looking out of the window while I was speaking and when she turned back to me it was with an understanding look, as though she too had fallen accurse to the outside world and all the mystery and wealth of information that it held. She nodded, 'For now Grace I will let you off with a warning. If I catch you another time slipping under our rules, I will not be so kind. You may go now'. As Gaines and I left the room he sighed in annoyance, he clearly wanted me to be punished. I smirked at him and ran off to my apartment before he could say a word to me. 'I'm free' I thought as I climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep.


End file.
